The Leadership Challenge

A Unique concept, customized for your business

The Leadership Challenge offers a framework that is unique in the world as it focuses solely on leadership behaviors and is thus easily integrated with existing concepts in a given business. It is not linked to a specific leadership style or philosophy.This agnostic and flexible nature of the concept makes it applicable across industries and different types of businesses.

I have been working with the Leadership Challenge concept for more than a decade and have applied the concept to a large variety of business challenges. The key question, irrespective of the current business challenge that a business may face, always remains the same:

How do we need to lead in order to succeed as a business?

I am currently the only Certified Master Facilitator based in continental Europe and together with the team at Quest Leadership Development Ltd. we form the European Master Facilitator network.

The 5 Practices of exemplary leadership:

Model the way.Inspire a shared vision.Challenge the process.Enable others to act.Encourage the heart.

What is the Leadership Challenge?

Approaching leadership as a measurable, learnable, and teachable set of behaviors, The Leadership Challenge framework grew out of rigorous research that first began in 1982 when Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner set out to understand those times when leaders performed at their personal best. They conducted hundreds of interviews and reviewed hundreds of cases studies and survey questionnaires. What emerged were five fundamental practices common to extraordinary leadership achievements. Now known worldwide as the most practical model of leadership development, The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® continues to prove its effectiveness in cultivating and liberating the leadership potential in anyone—at any level, in any organization—who chooses to accept the challenge to lead.

Measurable Leadership Strengthsupported by high reliability and validity

Instruments like the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) and the Student LPI must meet rigorous criteria for psychometric testing (unlike internally developed competency surveys). And because of the LPI’s demonstrated psychometric properties—including its strong reliability and validity—educators and practitioners alike are confident in using the LPI to further understand what it takes to be an effective leader. Continued studies of the LPI also confirm the relationship between The Five Practices and a variety of measurable outcomes such as job satisfaction, employee commitment, and sales performance.

The 5 Practices of exemplary leadership

Leadership is not about personality; it’s about behavior—an observable set of skills and abilities. And when Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner first set out to discover what great leaders actually do when they are at their personal best, they collected thousands of stories from ordinary people—the experiences these leaders recalled when asked to think of a peak leadership experience. Despite differences in culture, gender, age, and other variables, these “Personal Best” stories revealed similar patterns of behavior. In fact, Jim and Barry discovered that when leaders are at their personal best there are five core practices common to all: they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and last but certainly not least, they Encourage the Heart.

Model the Way Leaders establish principles concerning the way people (constituents, peers, colleagues, and customers alike) should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory.

Inspire a Shared Vision Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.

Challenge the Process Leaders search for opportunities to change the status quo. They look for innovative ways to improve the organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. And because leaders know that risk taking involves mistakes and failures, they accept the inevitable disappointments as learning opportunities.

Enable Others to Act Leaders foster collaboration and build spirited teams. They actively involve others. Leaders understand that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts; they strive to create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthen others, making each person feel capable and powerful.

Encourage the Heart Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes.

Find out more!

I would like to bring The Leadership Challenge® to your organization or are interested in LPI Coaching, please contact me via telephone or e-mail. I look forward to our conversation!